Call of Duty Championship Pool D Preview
| Tags: Call of Duty
| Author Matt Pryor
As we continue our coverage of the Call of Duty World League Championship 2019, we next look at Pool D. Please see our previous breakdowns on Pool A, Pool B and Pool C where we highlight storylines coming into the last major tournament of Black Ops 4. In Pool D, we have Team Reciprocity, Team Envy, Sage eSports and LGND Status. This pool again provides two professional teams and two amateur teams competing against each other in a round-robin format. The teams with the two best records will advance to the Knockout Stage.
Team Reciprocity
The number one seed coming out of this pool is the European squad, Team Reciprocity. The team of Bradley “wuskin” Marshall, Zach “Zed” Denyer, Denholm “Denz” Taylor, Dylan “Dylan” Henderson, Alex “Alexx” Carpenter have managed a relatively consistent season. For the majority of the season, Reciprocity’s roster included Seanny and Tommey. Tommey left the main roster due to personal reasons but qualified with an Amateur team. Seanny joined The Bhoys who are now playing under the Celtic FC banner.
Early on in this season, Reciprocity finished T12 at the CWL Las Vegas Open and then went on to qualify for the CWL Pro League. This accomplishment set the stage for the remainder of their season. While competing in the Pro League, Reciprocity participated at CWL Fort Worth, London and Anaheim in that order. The European team yielded results of third place, T8 and T12 respectively. This season has been quietly successful for Team Reciprocity.
Heading into the final event of the Black Ops 4 season, Reciprocity finished the CWL Pro League in a tie for eighth place. This granted them an opportunity to compete at the CWL Pro League Playoffs. Reciprocity went on to finish in fourth, placing them among the top professional teams heading into the CWL Championship. According to codstats.gg, Alexx and Dylan were the team’s top slayers at a 1.34 and 1.27 kill/death ratio at the Pro League Playoffs. Team Reciprocity is catching fire at the right time heading into the final CWL Championship.
Team Envy
Coming in at the number two seed is Team Envy. Envy began their season by acquiring the Evil Geniuses roster after the CWL Championship last season. Without a win this season, Envy has had a similar performance to that of Team Reciprocity. The organization has seen consistent placements from its roster throughout the season. The core team of Patrick “ACHES” Price and Justin “SiLLY” Fargo-Palmer have remained on the Envy roster all season long. Jacob “Decemate” Cato and Adam “Assault” Garcia are currently apart of the roster after each leaving and rejoining. The most recent and newest acquisition was Peirce “Gunless” Hillman. Gunless’ journey took place after Luminosity Gaming benched him and then loaned him out.
Envy has not placed worse than T12 during the Black Ops 4 season. Their season’s highlight was a fourth-place finish at CWL London, albeit this was before the addition of Gunless. After picking up Gunless, Team Envy finished tied for tenth place at the end of the CWL Pro League. Envy’s last event prior to the CWL Championship resulted in a T8 at the CWL Pro League Playoffs Play-In. They ultimately failed to qualify for the playoffs.
It was most certainly not a season that Envy had hoped for. On the heels of a CWL Championship in World War II for ACHES, Assault and SiLLY, this team possesses championship talent. Team Envy has the talent and the capability of emerging out of the woodwork to make a run at the CWL Championship. ACHES is a veteran in professional Call of Duty and always manages to show up when it really matters.
Sage eSports
The third seed of Pool D is Sage eSports from the United States. Sage eSports’ players include Dylan “Cells” Mock, Thomas “GRVTY” Malin, Darien “Hollow” Chverchko, Reece “Vivid” Drost and Dillon “Wrecks” Slotter. The organization involved itself in Black Ops 4 in May of this year. Several different rosters have competed under the Sage eSports banner, and their best finish was a T6 and the CWL London Open. The current roster qualified for the CWL Amateur Finals by way of the Amateur Finals 2019 US National Qualifier. Sage eSports took second place there with the aforementioned roster.
At the CWL Amateur Finals, Sage eSports delivered a fourth-place performance. They lost to Sicario Gaming early in the upper bracket but bounced back nicely in losers. Sage eSports rattled off five straight series wins and avenged their previous loss to Sicario Gaming. Their exit came at the hands of Mazer Gaming in a 3-2 series loss. Sage is looking to shock the world by qualifying over well-known pro teams in Envy and Reciprocity in Pool D.
LGND Status
Rounding out Pool D is LGND Status coming in at the number four seed. LGND Status’ roster includes Carlos “Foncho” Maradiaga, Tyler “Ryza” Smith, Phil “Phenom” Contini, Devon “Pure” Mills and Ethan “EFatal” Davis. Unlike many of the amateur teams competing, LGND Status has maintained the same roster since May of this year. At the CWL Anaheim Open, LGND Status finished T12 and this would be one of the only majors that the team competed in all year.
Their next LAN event took place at the CWL Amateur Finals. LGND Status won four series in the lower bracket, and ultimately lost to Sage eSports. A T16 is all it took for LGND Status to qualify for the CWL Championship. This squad is just one of many amateur teams that are competing against the top professional organizations in the world. The hope for LGND Status is that they can go on a run and take one of the top two spots from Envy or Reciprocity.
Pool D is one of the lesser stacked leading into the CWL Championship. Even so, Envy always manages to show up when it comes to the biggest tournament of the year. ACHES is typically an X factor as he simply just finds a way to win. Reciprocity coming in as the favorite to win the pool speaks volumes for their performance over the last few competitions. It feels as though the Envy and Reciprocity are gearing up for the Knockout Stage. However, the unknown that comes along with the amateur teams can sometimes come as a surprise. Stay tuned as we continue our pool-by-pool breakdown for the CWL Championship heading into this weekends competition.
Featured image via Dexerto.